Manchester City issue over 250 ticket account bans after Galatasaray incident | OneFootball

Officials at Manchester City have suspended more than 250 accounts following an investigation into how Galatasaray supporters bought tickets for home sections of the Etihad Stadium earlier this year.

The Premier League side came out winners after goals from Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki inside the opening 29 minutes confirmed Manchester City’s automatic entry into the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League. 

However, their opponents had significant numbers of supporters in home segments of the ground and video footage showed fans of the Turkish club walking around the concourse. A total of 35,259 supporters attended the match on January 28, making it one of the smallest crowds at the Etihad Stadium in recent memory. 

It is thought the reason behind the numbers lies within requirements that had to be met to purchase a ticket, with fans needing to hold a membership since before the draw for the competition’s league phase, while attending three previous games on top of that. 

Manchester City had taken extra precaution after more than 2,000 Galatasaray supporters were allowed to access home sections at Manchester United’s Old Trafford over two years ago, yet those efforts proved unfeasible with a number of visiting supporters in home sectors. 

Now, according to the Manchester Evening News’ Simon Bajkowski, exactly 253 accounts were banned after the club undertook an investigation into how away fans acquired tickets, with findings presented to City Matters – an official fan board associated with the club. 

It is understood 85 per cent of tickets came from Cityzens Matchday Members, 12 per cent from season ticket holders, and three per cent from UEFA’s allocation, with City moving to identify and suspend accounts, taking away ability to buy tickets for home and away fixtures. 

The aforementioned suspensions takes the number of banned accounts for misusing the ability to purchase tickets up to 1,400 for the season – nearly double the number sanctioned last year.

More frustration has rolled over for Manchester City supporters too after ticket transfer changes were put in place, making it harder for fans to lend tickets to another season ticket holder if they cannot attend themselves. 

That has made going to games much harder for supporters of the eight-time Premier League champions, and it shows with decreasing attendances. 

In the top-flight this season, and despite chasing a seventh Premier League title in just nine years, the Etihad Stadium’s average attendance is at its lowest since the 2014/15 campaign – excluding 2020/21 due to major disruption by the coronavirus pandemic. 

So far this season, Manchester City’s average attendance has been 52,223 having previous reached highs of 54,130 and 54,219 in 2018/19 and 2019/20 respectively. Against Galatasaray, there were around 20,000 empty seats.